WRECKAGE from the mid-air collision above Drayton which killed two people was today taken to the Air Accident Investigation Branch headquarters in Farnborough.

The AAIB, part of the Department for Transport, said experts at its Hampshire base would try to establish the cause of Sunday afternoon’s crash.

Flight Lieutenant Mike Blee, 62, of St Mary’s Green, Abingdon, and schoolboy Nicholas Langley-Rice, 15, from Calcot, Reading, died when their Grob Tutor training aircraft, which took off from RAF Benson, and a glider collided.

Glider pilot Henry Freeborn, from Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, parachuted to safety.

An AAIB spokesman said a report into the accident would be published, although it could take up to a year to complete.

No-one from the AAIB or the RAF was willing to speculate on possible causes of the crash.

RAF spokesman Group Captain Andy Naismith said: “A service inquiry has been convened, working closely with counterparts in the civil AAIB, to examine the circumstances and causes; it would be inappropriate for us to speculate at this early stage.

“As always, aviation safety and the safety of our personnel are our highest priorities and we are leaving no stone unturned as we try to find out what caused this tragic accident.”

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said: “A thorough investigation is under way.”

Oxfordshire’s Coroners’ Office said an inquest into the deaths had not been opened yet.